The Connection
by Stavi
Summary: AU. Naruto is now connected to the spirit world to help others pass on, thanks to a near death experience caused by a ghost. Can he tame the ghost out for his life? Will a victim of the ghost come out to haunt him or help him? [SasuNaru] Yaoi and language
1. Chapter 1

Opening: My 2nd multi-chapter story. Yay!

Warning: Yaoi. Murder (Itachi). Language.

Disclaimer: The characters of Naruto are not mine. (Couldn't think of anything witty at the moment). This extends through the whole story.

"Didja hear? Didja hear?" A group of students gathered around a desk to get their supply the daily dose of gossip.

"About that haunted mansion on the top of Chasamanty Hill? Or as the locals call it 'The Doorway to Hell? Yeah!" One other shouted.

"Yeah, they said _another_ person has disappeared in there." One with pink hair claimed.

"It's Hell's gate! There's no other explanation!"

"No way, probably some pedophile murderer guy."

"You're too skeptical."

"CLASS! SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" A medium build tanned man with a light scar over his nose shouted. Obviously the teacher.

"But Iruka-sensei! We want to hear the details." One whined.

"Too bad! This is school! Not the gossip corner, wait 'til after class for that." He said, calming himself.

A series of moans and groans resounded in the room accompanied by one relieved, yet quiet, sigh. The sigh coming from one blue eyed, blonde haired, tan skinned, Uzamaki Naruto.

And as the chaos calmed, class resumed. Although really, what was the difference between the two?

The bell sounded to release the heathens—I mean students, to lunch.

A dog like boy nudged Naruto in the ribs. "So didja hear about that haunted house thing?"

"Knock it off Kiba." Naruto growled.

"Come on, Come on. All in good fun." He absently waved his hand.

The blonde, 'humph' ed, muttering darkly about 'hydrant pissing and black mail', efficiently shutting the mutt up.

"Really though Naruto, you can't seriously be afraid of ghosts, now can you?" A pale eyed boy smirked smugly at the pouting boy.

"I very well can, if I please, _Neji_. Just like you can be afraid of Ga-" A hand covered Naruto's lips successfully silencing the blonde from saying something that Neji would regret.

The long, dark haired boy swooped down next to Naruto's ear and hissed angrily, "I _thought_ that was to remain a _secret_!" Naruto turned his head so his mouth was next to Neji's ear, "Not if I have reason to spill." He countered. Neji let go.

"…?" Gaara wondered.

"Don't worry about it." Neji spat returning to his seat. After being around Gaara for almost 5 years everyone learned to speak 'silence'.

"How can you be so afraid of--" Naruto was once again cut off by the same hand. "Shut it Naruto." The blonde got an evil glint in his eye and only seconds later did the hand snap back to its owner furiously wiping it on a napkin. "You _licked_ me. So unsanitary. How old are you? Five?" Neji groaned in annoyance as the slobbery feeling didn't leave his hand.

Naruto just stuck his tongue out childishly. "16… last time I checked." He said thoughtfully.

"You act like a little brat." Neji turned around and crossed his arms.

"What a Diva!" Naruto laughed. A few chuckles came from his friends, agreeing with his statement. Neji could be a drama queen sometimes.

"Looks like someone was able to avoid the topic of discussion again…for a while at least." They all turned around to see a boy in a tight green muscle- shirt and tighter green pants. His hair was black and spiked.

"Damnit, Lee!" Naruto shouted at the emo boy. Honestly, what self-respecting emo wore green? ...Or had a girlfriend for that matter that so happened to be the captain of the cheer-leading squad?

"You almost got us Naruto, nice catch Lee." Kiba commented.

"I say we make a wager." Lee announced, seating himself, uninvited at the table.

"We're listening." Neji leaned in, eager to hear this. He was sure it was going to lead to some great black mail material later on.

"I purpose that we make Naruto stay inside the haunted house for 3 days." Lee smirked. Naruto just about pissed himself on the spot.

"IIE!" He shouted.

"What? You're not scared are you?" Lee made chicken-type sounds which, when done by an emotionally unstable emo, is quite hilarious.

"Yes." Naruto admitted, albeit proudly thinking it would get him off the hook.

"Great. Now we'll help you conquer that fear." He smiled a fake and evil smile.

"Fuck." He groaned. _'Walked right into that one.'_

"Will stop torturing the poor boy?" A silky voice came from behind Naruto. He turned around to be faced with a boy about his age with long bright red hair that seemed to be on fire and two yellow triangle-like marks on each side of his cheeks and intense lightening yellow eyes. Naruto jumped up and glomped the boy.

"Kyu-chan!" He squealed.

"(cough) …Can't… (wheeze) …breathe… (cough)…" Naruto quickly got off of his suffocating cousin.

"Sorry." He laughed sheepishly.

"No you're not, because if you were you wouldn't be smiling." He quipped in a friendly manner.

"Yeah, you're right." He laughed again.

"Stop changing the subject. You can't keep hiding behind your cousin all the time." Lee barked.

Kyuubi cracked his knuckles warningly, glowering down at the poor fool who dares mock his innocent cousin. The room dropped 20 degrees colder and Lee hid behind the stoic Gaara. The yellow-eyed boy smirked.

"Who's hiding now?" He taunted. Lee sputtered indignantly.

"It's for his own good." Neji piped in.

"…" Gaara agreed.

"He's a scared-y cat. We're only here to help." Kiba added.

Kyuubi quirked a fine eyebrow. "What will Naru-chan get out of this if he wins?"

"You can't be serious Kyu-chan! I won't go in there for any-!" "5 months worth of free ramen." There was an awkward silence and everyone turned to the far end of the table.

"G-Gaara?" Kiba stuttered.

"You can talk!?" Naruto yelled, getting the attention of the entire cafeteria who hadn't heard. The ones who had, had there jaws breaking into the tile floor.

"…" Gaara nodded. Life returned to normal again as the silence ensued. Normality is extremely over-rated, true, but a step out of regularity is unnecessary.

"What were we talking about again?" Naruto asked.

"You do know the Definition of ADHD right?" Kiba questioned.

"I do NOT have Attention Deficit Hyper Dis—Omigawd, a chicken!" He leapt out of his chair and began running, only to find he wasn't going anywhere. He looked up and saw that his collar was being held up by Kyuubi. Ending hid 'sprint' to the chicken, he hung in the grip of his captor, pouting cutely and crossing his arms.

Kyuubi lowered the boy into his seat and held his shoulders down to prevent another 'escape'. "You have peaked my interest." Kyuubi directed his attention back to Lee. "We have a deal?" He had a gleam in his eyes.

"What deal?" Lee asked.

"Ramen. 5 months. For Naruto." He explained in short sentences. He wasn't a very patient person.

"Sure." He held out his hand for the deal.

Kyuubi grabbed it and shook it furiously. "Deal. He's all yours." He leered at the blonde pinned in the chair and pulled out duct tape from his back pocket. Kyuubi strapped Naruto to the chair. Naruto was yelling obscenities one would not normally hear from the quite childish boy.

"Damn you Kyu-chan! Fuck! Get me the hell out of this! Bastard! You're not my friend anymore!" He cried as he was hoisted up by the other three boys (Gaara refused to help, silently of course). Kyuubi approached his struggling cousin. Naruto looked hopeful, pure joy radiating from his small frame. Which was quickly shattered when Kyu-chan smacked a piece of duct tape over his mouth. The room cheered.

"Mam-mit! Met me moe!" He demanded as he was hauled from the room.

--At Kiba's house—

"Alright, flashlight? Check. Food? Double check. Toilet paper? Check. Cell Phone? Check. Sleeping Bag? Check. Soap? Check. Tooth brush-paste? Check. Extra clothes? Check. Cards? Check. Camera and recorder? Double check! Great, we're good to go." Kiba did the hand signal from the 'Taco Bell' thing, 'So it's good to go'.

"But I don't wanna!" Naruto whined.

"Too bad your cousin signed you over to us. So you're doing it!" Lee snipped, shutting Naruto up.

"Well, we're done here. Let's get going." Neji stated.

"Right!"

Naruto cried on the inside. He was so scared of what might happen in there. What if they ate him? Or raped him? Or worse…what if they haunted him?!

"No! I'm too young to die!!" Everyone in the village heard the poor pathetic screams for help.

They ran down the street, across two rivers, hailed 15 taxis, and climbed up to Chasamanty Hill. Kyuubi was waiting there.

"How'd you get here so fast?!" Kiba shouted.

"I went behind the school." He stated nonchalantly, pointing behind him at their High School.

"Well, at least we're here." Neji sighed letting down Naruto the ground slowly, and by 'slowly' we mean dropping without a care where he lands, which was his head. "Itai!" He cried, nursing the new lump on his head.

"Alright. Naruto. 3 days. If you run into trouble call us and we'll get you out of there. 5 months of ramen." Kyuubi told him and gave him a quick hug. "Good luck."

Naruto gulped. Kyuubi seemed to think he could do it, and he didn't want to disappoint him. "Al-alright." He stood up shakily and walked to the door with the intention of entering 'The Doorway to Hell'.

"Good Luck!" They called out again, with the exception of Gaara.

He opened the door and walked into the threshold, expecting to be immediately thrown into some vortex of doom. When nothing came he walked deep into the foyer. The door slammed shut and he whipped around to be faced with nothing but the dark shadows of the poorly illuminated room.

The atmosphere was dead and left an uneasy feeling in the pit of Naruto's stomach. Silence was the sole base of the house and…wait, what was that?

The sound of giggling came from the basement. Loud shouts of two people fighting came from the upstairs, both male. The sound of a sobbing boy came from the corner of the room. An ear-shattering scream came from a room near the foyer, most probably the bathroom by the way it echoed. Lastly, the one that stood out the most was the sound of deep chuckling. The chortling coming nearer and nearer.

The blonde backed himself closer and closer to the basement door as the evil laughter began to grow louder and more maniacal. He quickly grabbed the cell phone and fumbled with the buttons, dialing Kyu-chan's number.

_Ring. Step. Ring. Snigger. Ring. Step. Ri-_

"Hello?" Kyuubi's voice came from the other end. "Naru-chan?" He questioned.

Naruto's mouth failed to work out coherent sentences. "He-hel, sa-sav, D-don't…" He tried.

"Are you okay?"

A deep voice that was definitely not Naruto's spoke.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" It mocked curiosity.

"Pl-plea-please, d-don't…" He heard Naruto sobbed in the background.

Suddenly a loud shriek of pain sliced through the evening air, emitting from the house.

"NARUTO?!" Kyuubi called out to his cousin through the phone.

The sound of zapping and crackling came from it and then it went dead.

_**TBC…**_

Nomi: Yes! A whole new story! And it's my first AU!

Mol: Hurray! Now WTF happened!

Nomi: Not tellin'. (Sticks tongue out)

Mol: (Cut's tongue off) Muwahaha!

Nomi: Wahh! You're a horrible lover! (Inside joke)

Mol: Whatever.

Both: Ja! R&R Please!


	2. Chapter 2

The monstrous ghost lifted his hand and his nail elongated and pierced the phone and Naruto's shoulder. The phone died slowly and Naruto screamed as blood continued to pool around him. The ghost that radiated killer intent twisted his nail that was still embedded in Naruto shoulder making the blonde cry out in pain.

"So you can hear the voices?" A cool calm voice asked. "That _is_ impressive. Do you like hearing the ghosts?" It questioned.

Naruto shook his head slowly and the nail twisted again making the blood quicken in flow. He sobbed outright.

"Well that's too bad. Can you see me?" It asked. Naruto again shook his head. The voice chuckled darkly. "Can you see this?" Suddenly a flash of red shown in front of Naruto where the ghost's eyes should've been. Naruto jumped a bit, but yelped when the nail dug in his shoulder again. That told the ghost what he needed to know.

A sudden pounding brought Naruto out of his despair. "Naruto! Naruto! Are you okay?!" It was Kyuubi and Kiba who he could hear the most. "We can't get in Naruto, it's locked!" Naruto's face fell and tumbled into depression again. He was going to die. Just like everyone else before him.

"How about I kill you so you can see everyone, like your family? Do you miss them? I can kill you too if you want." The ghost said with a gleam in his eyes. Naruto's eyes widened at the subject of his parents, he whimpered and looked to the door.

"Heeelp…" He yelled in a raspy voice. It was very soft but Kyuubi heard it. "What's wrong Naruto?!" The pounding on the door became more violent and frantic.

The finger of the ghost slowly slid down and cut him like a hot knife through butter, getting closer and closer to his heart. The crying ghost boy in the corner of the room stopped crying and Naruto could hear the soft padding of his foot steps.

"Itachi?" The young ghost, about Naruto's age if not a year older, asked. Naruto was slipping in and out of consciousness from the lack of blood.

"Yes, Otouto?" He asked sweetly. Well as sweetly as a murdering son of a bitch could.

"Don't kill him too. Please?" The boy pleaded.

"If that's what you wish…" Itachi said. Naruto, even in his in-and-out consciousness, sighed with relief, but that quickly changed into another scream of pain as Itachi sliced off to the left and withdrew his talon.

"Why'd you do that!? I said don't kill him!" The young ghost gasped.

"I didn't kill him. I just made it very hard to stay alive. If he tries I'm sure he'll live…probably." Naruto heard the ghost's footsteps fade away along with his vision.

"Damn. You, this is going to be the scariest damn thing you've ever seen but it'll keep you alive. Don't die, dobe." The ghost said as he waved a hand in front of the blonde's eyes which immediately shut. That's when the front door swung open and collided with the wall with a loud, '_TUNK!'. _He felt the ghosts disappear and Kyuubi's eyes on him. After that, he fell into a deep sleep, evil and traumatizing nightmares promised to come.

Kyuubi and everyone stared wide-eyed at their friend, leaning back against a wall with his head to the right side and a pool of blood that surrounded him. He had tears flowing from his closed eyes and his mouth was open in a silent plea for help.

"N-naruto?" Kyuubi asked hesitantly as though he expected the blonde boy to leap up any second and laugh at them.

They got no reply.

"Omigawd!" Neji threw up in the corner and Kyuubi rushed to Naruto's side along with Kiba, Lee and Gaara.

"Naruto? Are you okay? Answer me!" Kyuubi wailed. Neji kept far away from fear of throwing up on Naruto but he was crying to himself. Gaara was scared speechless more so than usual. Lee couldn't believe his eyes. Kiba still couldn't process his friend's condition as he knelt down in the blood to feel for his vitals.

"Guys! He's okay!" Kiba hollered over Kyuubi's sobs.

"We have to take him to a hospital! Quick!" Lee barked.

Kyuubi picked him up gingerly and ran out of the mansion.

"Now why did you go and do that, Otouto?" The ghost known as Itachi asked.

"Because I could." The young one replied and ran (…er, floated?) after Naruto.

Itachi scowled. "No one defies me. Not even my little brother. There will be hell to pay from this, Naruto." He cackled evilly to himself. "I'll make sure of it."

--In Naruto state of unconsciousness—

Blood. Everywhere. His friends' blood. Their bodies. His blood. He was still alive, but slowly bleeding to death.

A tall man with raven colored hair and bright blood red eyes was standing in front of him, laughing insanely. He was throwing knives into Naruto's body over and over and over again, and forced to watch his friends die in grotesque ways. Kiba's head was cut off. Kyuubi was disemboweled. Lee was hung. Neji was skinned alive. Gaara was cut into little pieces from the feet up. It was so gross that Naruto threw up repeatedly so many times he ran out of stomach enzymes and was throwing up blood. Their screams of death played over and over in his ears.

Now Itachi was killing slowly and painfully. Stabbing the sensitive parts but not vital parts first and then moved closer to his center and vital organs.

"Soon you'll see everyone. You'll be with everyone. Don't you want to be with your friends?" He mocked and kicked Kyuubi in the side.

"Fuck off!" Naruto yelled his arms chained up on the crucifix, like a dart board.

"Maybe later with you or one of your friends." Itachi ridiculed.

"That's so gross! Don't make me kill you bastard!" He pulled against the chains. Even if he's up against a ghost he wouldn't give in to death or act too kindly towards the murderer of his friends.

'_Good! You have to want to live. None of this is real!' _Avoice told him.

"I-it sure feels real." He whispered

"What was that?" Itachi asked.

"I won't say anything to a bastard like you." He hissed.

Itachi threw another knife directly adjacent to his heart and Naruto swore loudly as blood poured out of his body.

'_It's a spell I put you under to live. It's not real.' _It said.

"So this is your doing eh, well you know what sir?" Naruto asked.

'_What?'_

"You're a real t-teme." He choked on some blood.

'_But you better not die in here.'_

"Why's that, teme?" He asked.

'_Cause you'll die out there too.'_

"I see." He spit out more blood.

'_You're waking up now.'_

"Finally." The blonde smirked at his tormentor. "Bye bye." He spit in Itachi's eyes as his body started to disappear from the evil and painful world.

"Otouto, you did it again." Itachi growled in his fury.

"Yea…so what?" The younger ghost said and poofed out of the world as well, keeping tabs on the dobe.

--Back in reality—

"What if he doesn't make it!?" Kyuubi cried. "It'll be my entire fault!"

Neji rubbed circles on Kyuubi's back, coaxing him to stop crying. Kyuubi never cried unless it had something to do with Naruto, he was very protective of him since his parents were murdered.

"The doctors said he was stable now. Calm down." Lee comforted.

"You know he was lying! After all that blood he lost, I won't be able to breath without smelling that forever. His blood pressure is so weak too." He had cried so much that he ran out of tears and now they were just dry sobs.

"Ugh…" A groan came from the hospital bed.

"Naruto!" Kyuubi leapt up and motioned for everyone to come over.

"Anyone ever hear of breathing room?" Naruto asked. "Agh! I can't see!" He panicked.

"Naruto…open your eyes." Neji said calmly.

"Oh yeah. Hi everybody! Miss me?" He smiled, still lying down. He may be an idiot but he wasn't about to open his stitches.

Kyuubi glomped him. "You scared the fudge-nips out of me! Brat!" He shouted.

"Ouch! Kyu-chan! Down boy!" Naruto reprimanded him but with a smile none the less.

"Naruto what in the seven hells happened to you." Lee asked.

"I was attacked by a ghost! I swear!" He exclaimed. "And I'm not high this time!"

He got five odd stares from his friends. "I swear it! And this ghost guy who's like a year older than me saved me by putting me through hell and…AGH!" Naruto was strapped to his bed. "I'm not high! You have to believe me!"

Naruto's eyes got really big all of a sudden. "There he is! The ghost-teme!" He shouted and pointed at the empty space about his bed on a shelf.

"I think the shock made him crazy." The nurse said as he injected him with a sleeping shot.

"I think so. Will he be okay when he gets up?" Kiba asked.

"Probably. But that was a very traumatic experience he suffered, he died at one point. But we revived him." She explained.

"Wonder what really happened…" Lee pondered out loud.

"Itachi…" Naruto mumbled in his sleep and his eyes scrunched up in pain. The nurse dropped her chart.

"What's wrong miss?" Kyuubi asked politely.

"That name. You see? Itachi was a serial killer. He murdered his entire family and one, Uzumaki family, and then committed suicide after them. I thought it was just a coincidence, Naruto's name, but now…" She trailed off.

When Kyuubi heard her say Uzumaki he went deaf to the world around him. Naruto's family's killer almost killed Naruto…and it would've been his fault to lead him to the trap.

Naruto sat up in his sleep and called out, "Kyuubi…"

"What is it Naruto?" He walked up to his sleeping cousin.

"I see…" Naruto said in a hushed voice.

Kyuubi leaned his ear closer to Naruto's mouth.

"I SEE DEAD PEOPLE!!" He shouted and fell back down onto the bed.

Kyuubi passed out on the ground from the sheer loudness of it.

No one heard the boy sitting on the shelf, laughing his ass off at the 'dobe's' stupidity. 'Oi, This Naruto was a fun one.' The ghost boy thought. 'This is going to be so much fun!'

_**TBC...**_

For those of you who hadn't guessed it yet. Naruto is experiencing the Mangekyou-Sharingan.

Mol: What's that?

Nomi: It's a form of the Sharingan that is obtained by killing your best friend (looks at Mol) and you can torment people in another world. While the world is not real, the victim feels every ounce of pain.

Mol: I get it now.

Nomi: Sorry for making this chapter really dramatic. It'll shift between Drama and humor and I'm fiddling with the plot.

Mol: Well get to it! (re-chains to desk) Ja! R&R Please!

Nomi: (Continues crying) Someone save me!


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't believe they released you." Neji shook his head.

"I was sure she was goin to put you in the loony bin for how many times you shouted 'ghost!'" Kiba started laughing.

"But I swear! They're there. I CAN SEE THEM! I'M NOT HIGH!" Naruto threw a fit in the middle of the street.

"Okay, Okay, calm down. Sheesh. Anyway, we're glad you're…okay now. I gotta go, later!" Kiba ran off and Neji and Lee followed suit, while Gaara chose to be cool and left when no one was looking, 'cause he's cool like that…yeah.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're breathing correctly? You can see straight? You have full control over your mind? …the same that you had before you got attacked." Kyuubi checked Naruto's charts every 5 or so minutes to see if he missed something or if some horrific information just crawled on the page.

"I'm fine really. Go to work, I'll be great! Nothing stops me! Tell Boss I'll be back tomorrow!" Naruto waved frantically as he ran towards their apartment.

"Bye Naruto! And be Care-…!" Kyuubi squeezed his eyes shut as Naruto tripped over a cat and landed on his face with his butt in the air. "You okay?"

"Mmm-eah!" He tried to reply with his face fully implanted into the sidewalk. He lifted his arm limply and waved Kyuubi off. The older cousin walked away reluctantly hollering a 'Good Bye,' before running off to prevent himself from being late.

"Oh, nice one, dobe." The ghost boy chuckled as he looked appreciatively at the round rump in the air.

"Who's there?" Naruto immediately regained his 'composure' and looked around until his eyes landed on a raven haired ghost about a year older than himself, kinda looking a bit disappointed.

"I'm Sasuke, the person who saved your sorry ass from my brother." He smirked.

"You're the teme?" Naruto questioned.

"Call me Sasuke."

"I like teme. Anyway, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." Sasuke sung innocently.

"Spying?"

"Oh that's such a harsh word."

"Stalking?"

"Do you know anything other than subtly?"

"Pre-meditative murder?"

"Ye- What that has nothing to do with anything!"

"Or maybe it has something to do with everything!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke blinked. Naruto blinked.

Surely he realized that, that was uncalled for and really was just a random bout of stupidity? Surely he is not that much of a dobe. Surely you're joking…Well, no. No he's not and please don't call him Shirley.

"A-ha! I knew I was right! You just want my soul! Well you can't have it! It lives in ME! Not you! Meeeee!"

Sasuke blinked again…and promptly fell on the ground laughing.

"What's so funny?" Naruto held a cute puzzled look to the boy writhing in laughter on the ground. To which the boy responded with more laughter that went unheard by everyone other than Naruto.

"Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked a little frightened by his outburst. The laughter died down to a few random chuckles until stopping completely.

Sasuke wiped an invisible tear from his eye. "A-haha…I haven't laughed that hard in years… no I've never laughed quite that hard."

"You're not exactly salvaging my sanity here by having me speak to you in public." Naruto deadpanned.

Sasuke blinked again. He put his face really close to Naruto's and floated around him in circles. "You have brain in there?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled again…"Oh! Uh, Nope, I just get little sparks of genius. Ya know? It's random really." He smiled cheekily as though he didn't just call himself stupid.

"…guh…" _'…cute.'_ Sasuke never felt fuzzy inside before…and quickly smashed it to little pieces, Uchiha's never got warm fuzzy feelings and he'll be damned if he starts now.

"Let's go to my place so it doesn't seem so odd. Me talking to air and all." The fox-like grin not once leaving his face.

"Hn."

The way 'home' was carried out in silence. They walked to the threshold between the slums and the nice part of town and stopped at a fairly nice apartment.

"Takatau-oji-san!" Naruto shouted excitedly as he spotted the landlord.

"Ah. Naruto-kun. I see you're out of the hospital! I hope you're alright." He hugged the boy affectionately.

"I couldn't be better." He thumped his chest heartily with a fist after he stepped back from the hug, smiling goofily again. Honestly, was the boy _made_ of stupidity and smiles, or what?

"Really? I heard you've been seeing ghosts and things." He had a glint in his eyes and crouched down to eye level with Naruto.

"You don't think I'm crazy too, do you?" A crystalline tear gathered in his eye and his bottom lip jutted out in a pout. _'Damn…cute…dobe…'_

"Oh-ho-ho! Of course not!"

"R-really?" Naruto's eyes brightened and sparkled with childish giddiness.

"Sure as I'm going bald!" The old man chuckled. "Sometimes it takes a traumatic experience to get in contact with your inner powers." The old man nodded wisely. "Whatever happened to you must've been bad."

Naruto had an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he remembered what happened two weeks ago and things further in the past about his family. "Nope, nothing too bad! But I bet this ghost here _gave_ me the powers." He gestured to his left where Sasuke would've been.

Sasuke himself knew the blonde was lying through his teeth when he told the man it wasn't bad with that smile of his wrapped around his face.

"Oh-ho-ho! Really? WELL MISTER GHOST, HELLO!" He said louder than necessary probably thinking that Sasuke wouldn't be able to hear. Naruto erupted into giggles as Sasuke smacked his hands over his ears.

"Its okay, Oji-san. He can hear you perfectly fine." He laughed.

"Sorry. Well, I'll leave you on your way. If anything interesting happens, let me know!" He shouted after Naruto as said boy ran up the stairs.

"Can do!" He shouted back and ran up the rest of the stairs to the very top floor, smiling all the way.

'_Seven stories of running and he's not tired? He's got quite a bit of stamina… that could be put to good use.' _Sasuke smirked.

Then he sprinted to the end of the hallway with Sasuke trailing not far behind. He shoved a key into the hole and jiggled it a few times and then opened it slowly.

"Well, welcome to your new home." Hey said happily.

"My new home?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. I thought since you probably had now where else to go, you'd want to stay with me. Is that okay?"

Instead of answering graciously he simply entered the house and looked around. There were two bedrooms, one was Naruto's the other was probably that 'Kyuubi' guy's. There was a nice bathroom, fairly large. Then there was a kitchen that connected with the living room. There was door in the living room that lead to another room that was used as an office/recreation room. Lastly there was a small closet near the front door. The rooms themselves were painted either a dark blue or a light slate blue the complete opposite of Naruto's personality.

He watched warily as Naruto walked across the room and to the couch where he plopped down with some ice and placed it on his chest. The blonde closed his eyes but he was still alert to the world around him.

"Does it bother you?" Sasuke asked.

"What? Hearing and seeing ghosts?"

Sasuke nodded but realized Naruto couldn't see so he spoke, "Yea."

"It did. I'm afraid of ghosts. Never knew why. They just scared me. Since I can't help it now but face them, I'll just grin and bear it." He smiled at Sasuke and it almost made the Raven melt. Sasuke knew somehow that, that's how Naruto faced a lot of things in his life. He really was optimistic, Sasuke liked it though.

"Hn. Good answer."

"Omigawd. Ah!" A sudden panicked voice hollered from above them.

Naruto fell off the couch. "What was that?!" He yelled.

There was a thud behind the couch and Naruto peered over it to see what it was. He saw a person but didn't know who it was.

"Teah?" Naruto heard Sasuke say.

_**TBC…**_

Nomi: Sorry for the longish wait. It's going to be odd intervals when I update because I'm moving Around December 2nd.

Mol: Nooo!

Nomi: Down to Virginia if anyone cares ( live in Ohio)

Mol: At any rate why is Naruto's brother suddenly appearing?

Nomi: That my friend is something you will find out when I update next time.

Mol: Die!

Nomi: But if you kill me then I can't write.

Mol: (Ponders) Write then! Then you'll die.

Both: Ja! R&R Please!

Nomi: Why am I always left crying and why won't anyone save me from her!? (cries)

Update 5/25/07: I'm not dead and neither is this story. I have just been in a slump trying to figure out my next step. Thanks to my friend, Princess Teah, I have a new plan for this. Yay! I'm updating soon at least within two weeks. Thanks for being so patient everyone! I love you!


End file.
